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5 Ways To Stay Healthy While Camping
It’s the tail end of summer, and as the weather turns colder, campers find that it’s easy to get sick while enjoying the great outdoors. Many campers have experienced cutting their trip short to stay home and recuperate, but in truth, these illnesses are preventable if one takes care to prepare to camp in cold weather. Being adequately prepared, making good food choices, protecting oneself, and getting lots of exercise is key to staying healthy while camping anywhere in the world. Here are 5 ways to stay healthy while camping.
Get vaccinated
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it’s recommended to get vaccinated before leaving for a camping trip. Your doctor may likely advise you to get shots for pertussis or whooping cough, tetanus, meningitis, and hepatitis A. You should also tell your doctor where you’re going so he or she can determine if you need to be vaccinated for certain diseases.
Stay warm
If you’re heading to a place with cold weather, keep in mind that the risk of hypothermia is very real. To stay warm, you’ll need to pack warm clothes and bring the right size tent and sleeping bag to keep the warmth in. You may also need to bring a portable ethanol fireplace for camping, which can be used inside the tent. This type of fireplace is easy to carry around and won’t produce suffocating smoke or odors, so it’s perfect to use inside or outside your tent.
Prepare healthy meals
It may be difficult to prepare healthy meals when you’re roughing it, and most campers will probably choose to bring canned food instead of fresh produce, which is bulkier and heavier. But with a little preparation before your camping trip, you can make healthy meals using a camp stove. If you camp regularly, consider investing in a dehydrator. You can dehydrate chopped vegetables like potatoes, carrots, and onions at home, then place them inside a ziplock bag. At the campsite, add the dehydrated vegetables to a pot of boiling water to revive them, then stir in some canned meat and season to taste. You now have a tasty meat stew that’s loaded with vitamins and minerals that will keep you healthy during your camping trip.
Stay hydrated
Hiking and setting up a campsite can be very dehydrating, so you need to stay hydrated at all times. Aim to drink up to a gallon of water everyday regardless if you’re exercising in the sun or staying in a frigid campsite. Being properly hydrated helps your body to regulate its temperature, and drinking plain water is the best way to do that.
Exercise
Camping evokes images of sleeping in a tent, roasting marshmallows, and telling scary stories around a campfire. These activities may be enjoyable, but they don’t do much to keep you healthy. You may be on vacation, but that’s no reason to stop working out. You can go for a hike
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